path: root/docs/manual/mod/mod_rewrite.xml

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<modulesynopsis metafile="mod_rewrite.xml.meta">

<name>mod_rewrite</name>

<description>Provides a rule-based rewriting engine to rewrite requested
URLs on the fly</description>

<status>Extension</status>
<sourcefile>mod_rewrite.c</sourcefile>
<identifier>rewrite_module</identifier>

<summary>
	<p>The <module>mod_rewrite</module> module uses a rule-based rewriting
      engine, based on a PCRE regular-expression parser, to rewrite requested URLs on
      the fly. By default, <module>mod_rewrite</module> maps a URL to a filesystem
      path. However, it can also be used to redirect one URL to another URL, or
      to invoke an internal proxy fetch.</p>
      <p><module>mod_rewrite</module> provides a flexible and powerful way to
      manipulate URLs using an unlimited number of rules. Each rule can have an
      unlimited number of attached rule conditions, to allow you to rewrite URL
      based on server variables, environment variables, HTTP headers, or time
      stamps.</p>
      <p><module>mod_rewrite</module> operates on the full URL path, including the
      path-info section. A rewrite rule can be invoked in
      <code>httpd.conf</code> or in <code>.htaccess</code>. The path generated
      by a rewrite rule can include a query string, or can lead to internal
      sub-processing, external request redirection, or internal proxy
      throughput.</p>

      <p>A regular expression only needs quoting if it contains unescaped space, 
      in which case single and double quotes are equivalent.</p>

      <p>Further details, discussion, and examples, are provided in the
      <a href="../rewrite/">detailed mod_rewrite documentation</a>.</p>
</summary>

<section id="logging"><title>Logging</title>

    <p><module>mod_rewrite</module> offers detailed logging of its actions
    at the <code>trace1</code> to <code>trace8</code> log levels. The
    log level can be set specifically for <module>mod_rewrite</module>
    using the <directive module="core">LogLevel</directive> directive: Up to
    level <code>debug</code>, no actions are logged, while <code>trace8</code>
    means that practically all actions are logged.</p>

    <note>
      Using a high trace log level for <module>mod_rewrite</module>
      will slow down your Apache HTTP Server dramatically! Use a log
      level higher than <code>trace2</code> only for debugging!
    </note>

    <example><title>Example</title>
    <highlight language="config">
LogLevel alert rewrite:trace3
    </highlight>
    </example>

    <note><title>RewriteLog</title>
      <p>Those familiar with earlier versions of
      <module>mod_rewrite</module> will no doubt be looking for the
      <code>RewriteLog</code> and <code>RewriteLogLevel</code>
      directives. This functionality has been completely replaced by the
      new per-module logging configuration mentioned above.
      </p>

      <p>To get just the <module>mod_rewrite</module>-specific log
      messages, pipe the log file through grep:</p>
    <example>
    tail -f error_log|fgrep '[rewrite:'
    </example>
    </note>

</section>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteEngine</name>
<description>Enables or disables runtime rewriting engine</description>
<syntax>RewriteEngine on|off</syntax>
<default>RewriteEngine off</default>
<contextlist><context>server config</context><context>virtual host</context>
<context>directory</context><context>.htaccess</context></contextlist>
<override>FileInfo</override>

<usage>

      <p>The <directive>RewriteEngine</directive> directive enables or
      disables the runtime rewriting engine. If it is set to
      <code>off</code> this module does no runtime processing at
      all. It does not even update the <code>SCRIPT_URx</code>
      environment variables.</p>

      <p>Use this directive to disable rules in a particular context,
      rather than commenting out all the <directive
      module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> directives.</p>

      <p>Note that rewrite configurations are not
      inherited by virtual hosts. This means that you need to have a
      <code>RewriteEngine on</code> directive for each virtual host
      in which you wish to use rewrite rules.</p>

      <p><directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteMap</directive> directives
      of the type <code>prg</code>
      are not started during server initialization if they're defined in a
      context that does not have <directive>RewriteEngine</directive> set to
      <code>on</code></p>
</usage>

</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteOptions</name>
<description>Sets some special options for the rewrite engine</description>
<syntax>RewriteOptions <var>Options</var></syntax>
<contextlist><context>server config</context><context>virtual host</context>
<context>directory</context><context>.htaccess</context></contextlist>
<override>FileInfo</override>
<usage>

      <p>The <directive>RewriteOptions</directive> directive sets some
      special options for the current per-server or per-directory
      configuration. The <em>Option</em> string can currently
      only be one of the following:</p>

      <dl>
      <dt><code>Inherit</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>This forces the current configuration to inherit the
      configuration of the parent. In per-virtual-server context,
      this means that the maps, conditions and rules of the main
      server are inherited. In per-directory context this means
      that conditions and rules of the parent directory's
      <code>.htaccess</code> configuration or
      <directive type="section" module="core">Directory</directive>
      sections are inherited. The inherited rules are virtually copied
      to the section where this directive is being used. If used in
      combination with local rules, the inherited rules are copied behind
      the local rules. The position of this directive - below or above
      of local rules - has no influence on this behavior. If local
      rules forced the rewriting to stop, the inherited rules won't
      be processed.</p>

      <note type="warning">
      Rules inherited from the parent scope are applied
      <strong>after</strong> rules specified in the child scope.
      </note>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>InheritBefore</code></dt>
      <dd>
      <p> Like <code>Inherit</code> above, but the rules from the parent scope
      are applied <strong>before</strong> rules specified in the child scope.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.3.10 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>InheritDown</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>If this option is enabled, all child configurations will inherit
      the configuration of the current configuration. It is equivalent to
      specifying <code>RewriteOptions Inherit</code> in all child
      configurations. See the <code>Inherit</code> option for more details
      on how the parent-child relationships are handled.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.8 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>InheritDownBefore</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>Like <code>InheritDown</code> above, but the rules from the current
      scope are applied <strong>before</strong> rules specified in any child's
      scope.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.8 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>IgnoreInherit</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>This option forces the current and child configurations to ignore
      all rules that would be inherited from a parent specifying
      <code>InheritDown</code> or <code>InheritDownBefore</code>.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.8 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>AllowNoSlash</code></dt>
      <dd>
      <p>By default, <module>mod_rewrite</module> will ignore URLs that map to a
      directory on disk but lack a trailing slash, in the expectation that
      the <module>mod_dir</module> module will issue the client with a redirect to
      the canonical URL with a trailing slash.</p>

      <p>When the <directive module="mod_dir">DirectorySlash</directive> directive
      is set to off, the <code>AllowNoSlash</code> option can be enabled to ensure
      that rewrite rules are no longer ignored. This option makes it possible to
      apply rewrite rules within .htaccess files that match the directory without
      a trailing slash, if so desired.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.0 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>AllowAnyURI</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>When <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
      is used in <code>VirtualHost</code> or server context with
      version 2.2.22 or later of httpd, <module>mod_rewrite</module>
      will only process the rewrite rules if the request URI is a <a
      href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">URL-path</a>.  This avoids
      some security issues where particular rules could allow
      "surprising" pattern expansions (see <a
      href="http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2011-3368">CVE-2011-3368</a>
      and <a
      href="http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2011-4317">CVE-2011-4317</a>).
      To lift the restriction on matching a URL-path, the
      <code>AllowAnyURI</code> option can be enabled, and
      <module>mod_rewrite</module> will apply the rule set to any
      request URI string, regardless of whether that string matches
      the URL-path grammar required by the HTTP specification.<br />
      Available in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.3 and later.</p>

      <note type="warning">
      <title>Security Warning</title>

      <p>Enabling this option will make the server vulnerable to
      security issues if used with rewrite rules which are not
      carefully authored.  It is <strong>strongly recommended</strong>
      that this option is not used.  In particular, beware of input
      strings containing the '<code>@</code>' character which could
      change the interpretation of the transformed URI, as per the
      above CVE names.</p>
      </note>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>MergeBase</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>With this option, the value of <directive module="mod_rewrite"
      >RewriteBase</directive> is copied from where it's explicitly defined
      into any sub-directory or sub-location that doesn't define its own
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteBase</directive>. This was the
      default behavior in 2.4.0 through 2.4.3, and the flag to restore it is
      available Apache HTTP Server 2.4.4 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>IgnoreContextInfo</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>When a relative substitution is made
         in directory (htaccess) context and <directive module="mod_rewrite"
         >RewriteBase</directive> has not been set, this module uses some
         extended URL and filesystem context information to change the
         relative substitution back into a URL. Modules such as
         <module>mod_userdir</module> and <module>mod_alias</module>
         supply this extended context info.  Available in 2.4.16 and later.</p>
      </dd>


      <dt><code>LegacyPrefixDocRoot</code></dt>
      <dd>

      <p>Prior to 2.4.26, if a substitution was an absolute URL that matched
         the current virtual host, the URL might first be reduced to a URL-path
         and then later reduced to a local path. Since the URL can be reduced 
         to a local path, the path should be prefixed with the document root. 
         This prevents a file such as /tmp/myfile from being accessed when a 
         request is made to http://host/file/myfile with the following 
         <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>.</p>
      <highlight language="config">
          RewriteRule /file/(.*) http://localhost/tmp/$1
      </highlight>
      <p>This option allows the old behavior to be used where the document
         root is not prefixed to a local path that was reduced from a 
         URL.  Available in 2.4.26 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      <dt><code>LongURLOptimization</code></dt>
      <dd>
      <p>This option reduces memory usage of long, unoptimized rule sets 
         that repeatedly expand long values in RewriteCond and RewriteRule
         variables. Available in 2.5 and later.</p>
      </dd>

      </dl>
</usage>

</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteMap</name>
<description>Defines a mapping function for key-lookup</description>
<syntax>RewriteMap <em>MapName</em> <em>MapType</em>:<em>MapSource</em>
    [<em>MapTypeOptions</em>]
</syntax>
<contextlist><context>server config</context><context>virtual host</context>
</contextlist>
<compatibility>The 3rd parameter, MapTypeOptions, in only available from Apache
2.4.29 and later</compatibility>

<usage>
      <p>The <directive>RewriteMap</directive> directive defines a
      <em>Rewriting Map</em> which can be used inside rule
      substitution strings by the mapping-functions to
      insert/substitute fields through a key lookup. The source of
      this lookup can be of various types.</p>

      <p>The <a id="mapfunc" name="mapfunc"><em>MapName</em></a> is
      the name of the map and will be used to specify a
      mapping-function for the substitution strings of a rewriting
      rule via one of the following constructs:</p>

      <p class="indent">
        <strong><code>${</code> <em>MapName</em> <code>:</code>
        <em>LookupKey</em> <code>}</code><br />
         <code>${</code> <em>MapName</em> <code>:</code>
        <em>LookupKey</em> <code>|</code> <em>DefaultValue</em>
        <code>}</code></strong>
      </p>

      <p>When such a construct occurs, the map <em>MapName</em> is
      consulted and the key <em>LookupKey</em> is looked-up. If the
      key is found, the map-function construct is substituted by
      <em>SubstValue</em>. If the key is not found then it is
      substituted by <em>DefaultValue</em> or by the empty string
      if no <em>DefaultValue</em> was specified. Empty values
      behave as if the key was absent, therefore it is not possible
      to distinguish between empty-valued keys and absent keys.</p>

      <p>For example, you might define a
      <directive>RewriteMap</directive> as:</p>

      <highlight language="config">
RewriteMap examplemap "txt:/path/to/file/map.txt"
      </highlight>

      <p>You would then be able to use this map in a
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> as follows:</p>

      <highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "^/ex/(.*)" "${examplemap:$1}"
      </highlight>

      <p>The meaning of the <em>MapTypeOptions</em> argument depends on
      particular <em>MapType</em>. See the
      <a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html">Using RewriteMap</a> for
      more information.</p>

      <p>The following combinations for <em>MapType</em> and
      <em>MapSource</em> can be used:</p>

    <dl>

    <dt>txt</dt>
        <dd>A plain text file containing space-separated key-value
        pairs, one per line. (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#txt">Details ...</a>)</dd>

    <dt>rnd</dt>
        <dd>Randomly selects an entry from a plain text file (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#rnd">Details ...</a>)</dd>

    <dt>dbm</dt>
        <dd>Looks up an entry in a dbm file containing name, value
        pairs. Hash is constructed from a plain text file format using
        the <code><a href="../programs/httxt2dbm.html">httxt2dbm</a></code>
        utility.  (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#dbm">Details ...</a>)</dd>

    <dt>int</dt>
        <dd>One of the four available internal functions provided by
        <code>RewriteMap</code>: toupper, tolower, escape or
        unescape. (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#int">Details ...</a>)</dd>

    <dt>prg</dt>
        <dd>Calls an external program or script to process the
        rewriting. (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#prg">Details ...</a>)</dd>

    <dt>dbd or fastdbd</dt>
        <dd>A SQL SELECT statement to be performed to look up the
        rewrite target. (<a href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html#dbd">Details ...</a>)</dd>
    </dl>

    <p>Further details, and numerous examples, may be found in the <a
    href="../rewrite/rewritemap.html">RewriteMap HowTo</a></p>

</usage>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteBase</name>
<description>Sets the base URL for per-directory rewrites</description>
<syntax>RewriteBase <em>URL-path</em></syntax>
<default>None</default>
<contextlist><context>directory</context><context>.htaccess</context>
</contextlist>
<override>FileInfo</override>

<usage>
      <p>The <directive>RewriteBase</directive> directive specifies the
      URL prefix to be used for per-directory (htaccess)
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> directives that
      substitute a relative path.</p>
      <p> This directive is <em>required</em> when you use a relative path
      in a substitution in per-directory (htaccess) context unless any 
      of the following conditions are true:</p>
      <ul>
          <li> The original request, and the substitution, are underneath the
               <directive module="core">DocumentRoot</directive>
               (as opposed to reachable by other means, such as
               <directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>).</li>
          <li> The <em>filesystem</em> path to the directory containing the
               <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>,
               suffixed by the relative
               substitution is also valid as a URL path on the server
               (this is rare).</li>
          <li> In Apache HTTP Server 2.4.16 and later, this directive may be
                omitted when the request is mapped via
                <directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>
                or <module>mod_userdir</module>.</li>
      </ul>

<p> In the example below, <directive>RewriteBase</directive> is necessary
    to avoid rewriting to http://example.com/opt/myapp-1.2.3/welcome.html
    since the resource was not relative to the document root.  This
    misconfiguration would normally cause the server to look for an "opt"
    directory under the document root.</p>
<highlight language="config">
DocumentRoot "/var/www/example.com"
AliasMatch "^/myapp" "/opt/myapp-1.2.3"
&lt;Directory "/opt/myapp-1.2.3"&gt;
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase "/myapp/"
    RewriteRule "^index\.html$"  "welcome.html"
&lt;/Directory&gt;
</highlight>

</usage>

</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteCond</name>
<description>Defines a condition under which rewriting will take place
</description>
<syntax> RewriteCond
      <em>TestString</em> <em>CondPattern</em> [<em>flags</em>]</syntax>
<contextlist><context>server config</context><context>virtual host</context>
<context>directory</context><context>.htaccess</context></contextlist>
<override>FileInfo</override>

<usage>
      <p>The <directive>RewriteCond</directive> directive defines a
      rule condition. One or more <directive>RewriteCond</directive>
      can precede a <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
      directive. The following rule is then only used if both
      the current state of the URI matches its pattern, <strong
      >and</strong> if these conditions are met.</p>

      <p><em>TestString</em> is a string which can contain the
      following expanded constructs in addition to plain text:</p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          <strong>RewriteRule backreferences</strong>: These are
          backreferences of the form <strong><code>$N</code></strong>
          (0 &lt;= N &lt;= 9). $1 to $9 provide access to the grouped
          parts (in parentheses) of the pattern, from the
          <code>RewriteRule</code> which is subject to the current
          set of <code>RewriteCond</code> conditions. $0 provides
          access to the whole string matched by that pattern.
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>RewriteCond backreferences</strong>: These are
          backreferences of the form <strong><code>%N</code></strong>
          (0 &lt;= N &lt;= 9). %1 to %9 provide access to the grouped
          parts (again, in parentheses) of the pattern, from the last matched
          <code>RewriteCond</code> in the current set
          of conditions. %0 provides access to the whole string matched by
          that pattern.
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>RewriteMap expansions</strong>: These are
          expansions of the form <strong><code
          >${mapname:key|default}</code></strong>.
          See <a href="#mapfunc">the documentation for
          RewriteMap</a> for more details.
        </li>
        <li>
          <strong>Server-Variables</strong>: These are variables of
          the form
            <strong><code>%{</code> <em>NAME_OF_VARIABLE</em>
            <code>}</code></strong>
          where <em>NAME_OF_VARIABLE</em> can be a string taken
          from the following list:

          <table>
          <columnspec><column width=".3"/><column width=".3"/>
           <column width=".3"/></columnspec>
            <tr>
              <th>HTTP headers:</th> <th>connection &amp; request:</th> <th></th>
            </tr>

            <tr>
              <td>
                 HTTP_ACCEPT<br />
                 HTTP_COOKIE<br />
                 HTTP_FORWARDED<br />
                 HTTP_HOST<br />
                 HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION<br />
                 HTTP_REFERER<br />
                 HTTP_USER_AGENT<br />
              </td>

              <td>
                 AUTH_TYPE<br />
                 CONN_REMOTE_ADDR<br />
                 CONTEXT_PREFIX<br />
                 CONTEXT_DOCUMENT_ROOT<br />
                 IPV6<br />
                 PATH_INFO<br />
                 QUERY_STRING<br />
                 REMOTE_ADDR<br />
                 REMOTE_HOST<br />
                 REMOTE_IDENT<br />
                 REMOTE_PORT<br />
                 REMOTE_USER<br />
                 REQUEST_METHOD<br />
                 SCRIPT_FILENAME<br />
              </td>

              <td></td>
            </tr>

            <tr>
              <th>server internals:</th> <th>date and time:</th> <th>specials:</th>
            </tr>

            <tr>
              <td>
                 DOCUMENT_ROOT<br />
                 SCRIPT_GROUP<br />
                 SCRIPT_USER<br />
                 SERVER_ADDR<br />
                 SERVER_ADMIN<br />
                 SERVER_NAME<br />
                 SERVER_PORT<br />
                 SERVER_PROTOCOL<br />
                 SERVER_SOFTWARE<br />
              </td>

              <td>
                 TIME_YEAR<br />
                 TIME_MON<br />
                 TIME_DAY<br />
                 TIME_HOUR<br />
                 TIME_MIN<br />
                 TIME_SEC<br />
                 TIME_WDAY<br />
                 TIME<br />
              </td>

              <td>
                 API_VERSION<br />
                 CONN_REMOTE_ADDR<br />
                 HTTPS<br />
                 IS_SUBREQ<br />
                 REMOTE_ADDR<br />
                 REQUEST_FILENAME<br />
                 REQUEST_SCHEME<br />
                 REQUEST_URI<br />
                 THE_REQUEST<br />
              </td>
            </tr>
          </table>

                <p>These variables all
                correspond to the similarly named HTTP
                MIME-headers, C variables of the Apache HTTP Server or
                <code>struct tm</code> fields of the Unix system.
                Most are documented <a href="../expr.html#vars">here</a>
                or elsewhere in the Manual or in the CGI specification.</p>

                <p>SERVER_NAME and SERVER_PORT depend on the values of
                <directive module="core">UseCanonicalName</directive> and
                <directive module="core">UseCanonicalPhysicalPort</directive>
                respectively.</p>

                <p>Those that are special to <module>mod_rewrite</module> include those below.</p>
                <dl>
                  <dt><code>API_VERSION</code></dt>

                  <dd>This is the version of the Apache httpd module API
                  (the internal interface between server and
                  module) in the current httpd build, as defined in
                  include/ap_mmn.h. The module API version
                  corresponds to the version of Apache httpd in use (in
                  the release version of Apache httpd 1.3.14, for
                  instance, it is 19990320:10), but is mainly of
                  interest to module authors.</dd>

                  <dt><code>CONN_REMOTE_ADDR</code></dt>

                  <dd>Since 2.4.8: The peer IP address of the connection (see the
                  <module>mod_remoteip</module> module).</dd>

                  <dt><code>HTTPS</code></dt>

                  <dd>Will contain the text "on" if the connection is
                  using SSL/TLS, or "off" otherwise.  (This variable
                  can be safely used regardless of whether or not
                  <module>mod_ssl</module> is loaded).</dd>

                  <dt><code>IS_SUBREQ</code></dt>

                  <dd>Will contain the text "true" if the request
                  currently being processed is a sub-request,
                  "false" otherwise. Sub-requests may be generated
                  by modules that need to resolve additional files
                  or URIs in order to complete their tasks.</dd>

                  <dt><code>REMOTE_ADDR</code></dt>

                  <dd>The IP address of the remote host (see the
                  <module>mod_remoteip</module> module).</dd>

                  <dt><code>REQUEST_FILENAME</code></dt>

                  <dd>The full local filesystem path to the file or
                  script matching the request, if this has already
                  been determined by the server at the time
                  <code>REQUEST_FILENAME</code> is referenced. Otherwise,
                  such as when used in virtual host context, the same
                  value as <code>REQUEST_URI</code>.  Depending on the value of
                  <directive module="core">AcceptPathInfo</directive>, the
                  server may have only used some leading components of the
                  <code>REQUEST_URI</code> to map the request to a file.
                  </dd>

                  <dt><code>REQUEST_SCHEME</code></dt>

                  <dd>Will contain the scheme of the request (usually
                  "http" or "https"). This value can be influenced with
                  <directive module="core">ServerName</directive>.</dd>

                  <dt><code>REQUEST_URI</code></dt>

                  <dd>The path component of the requested URI,
                  such as "/index.html".  This notably excludes the
                  query string which is available as its own variable
                  named <code>QUERY_STRING</code>. The value returned for
                  <code>REQUEST_URI</code> 
                  has already been %-decoded, to re-encode it pass it through
                  the "escape" <a href="#mapfunc">mapping-function</a>.
                  </dd>

                  <dt><code>THE_REQUEST</code></dt>

                  <dd>The full HTTP request line sent by the
                  browser to the server (e.g., "<code>GET
                  /index.html HTTP/1.1</code>"). This does not
                  include any additional headers sent by the
                  browser.  This value has not been unescaped
                  (decoded), unlike most other variables below.</dd>

                </dl>
        </li>
      </ul>

      <p>If the <em>TestString</em> has the special value <code>expr</code>,
      the <em>CondPattern</em> will be treated as an
      <a href="../expr.html">ap_expr</a>. HTTP headers referenced in the
      expression will be added to the Vary header if the <code>novary</code>
      flag is not given.</p>

      <p>Other things you should be aware of:</p>

      <ol>
        <li>
        <p>The variables SCRIPT_FILENAME and REQUEST_FILENAME
        contain the same value - the value of the
        <code>filename</code> field of the internal
        <code>request_rec</code> structure of the Apache HTTP Server.
        The first name is the commonly known CGI variable name
        while the second is the appropriate counterpart of
        REQUEST_URI (which contains the value of the
        <code>uri</code> field of <code>request_rec</code>).</p>
        <p>If a substitution occurred and the rewriting continues,
        the value of both variables will be updated accordingly.</p>
        <p>If used in per-server context (<em>i.e.</em>, before the
        request is mapped to the filesystem) SCRIPT_FILENAME and
        REQUEST_FILENAME cannot contain the full local filesystem
        path since the path is unknown at this stage of processing.
        Both variables will initially contain the value of REQUEST_URI
        in that case. In order to obtain the full local filesystem
        path of the request in per-server context, use an URL-based
        look-ahead <code>%{LA-U:REQUEST_FILENAME}</code> to determine
        the final value of REQUEST_FILENAME.</p></li>

        <li>
        <code>%{ENV:variable}</code>, where <em>variable</em> can be
        any environment variable, is also available.
        This is looked-up via internal
        Apache httpd structures and (if not found there) via
        <code>getenv()</code> from the Apache httpd server process.</li>

        <li>
        <code>%{SSL:variable}</code>, where <em>variable</em> is the
        name of an <a href="mod_ssl.html#envvars">SSL environment
        variable</a>, can be used whether or not
        <module>mod_ssl</module> is loaded, but will always expand to
        the empty string if it is not.  Example:
        <code>%{SSL:SSL_CIPHER_USEKEYSIZE}</code> may expand to
        <code>128</code>. These variables are available even without
        setting the <code>StdEnvVars</code> option of the
        <directive module="mod_ssl">SSLOptions</directive> directive.</li>

        <li>
        <code>%{HTTP:header}</code>, where <em>header</em> can be
        any HTTP MIME-header name, can always be used to obtain the
        value of a header sent in the HTTP request.
        Example: <code>%{HTTP:Proxy-Connection}</code> is
        the value of the HTTP header
        ``<code>Proxy-Connection:</code>''.
        <p>If a HTTP header is used in a condition this header is added to
        the Vary header of the response in case the condition evaluates
        to true for the request. It is <strong>not</strong> added if the
        condition evaluates to false for the request. Adding the HTTP header
        to the Vary header of the response is needed for proper caching.</p>
        <p>It has to be kept in mind that conditions follow a short circuit
        logic in the case of the '<strong><code>ornext|OR</code></strong>' flag
        so that certain conditions might not be evaluated at all.</p></li>

        <li>
        <a id="LA-U" name="LA-U"><code>%{LA-U:variable}</code></a>
        can be used for look-aheads which perform
        an internal (URL-based) sub-request to determine the final
        value of <em>variable</em>. This can be used to access
        variable for rewriting which is not available at the current
        stage, but will be set in a later phase.
        <p>For instance, to rewrite according to the
        <code>REMOTE_USER</code> variable from within the
        per-server context (<code>httpd.conf</code> file) you must
        use <code>%{LA-U:REMOTE_USER}</code> - this
        variable is set by the authorization phases, which come
        <em>after</em> the URL translation phase (during which
        <module>mod_rewrite</module> operates).</p>
        <p>On the other hand, because <module>mod_rewrite</module> implements
        its per-directory context (<code>.htaccess</code> file) via
        the Fixup phase of the API and because the authorization
        phases come <em>before</em> this phase, you just can use
        <code>%{REMOTE_USER}</code> in that context.</p></li>

        <li>
        <code>%{LA-F:variable}</code> can be used to perform an internal
        (filename-based) sub-request, to determine the final value
        of <em>variable</em>. Most of the time, this is the same as
        LA-U above.</li>
      </ol>

      <p><em>CondPattern</em> is the condition pattern,
       a regular expression which is applied to the
      current instance of the <em>TestString</em>.
      <em>TestString</em> is first evaluated, before being matched against
      <em>CondPattern</em>.</p>

      <p><em>CondPattern</em> is usually a
      <em>perl compatible regular expression</em>, but there is
      additional syntax available to perform other useful tests against
      the <em>Teststring</em>:</p>

      <ol>
        <li>You can prefix the pattern string with a
        '<code>!</code>' character (exclamation mark) to negate the result
        of the condition, no matter what kind of <em>CondPattern</em> is used.
        </li>

        <li>
          You can perform lexicographical string comparisons:

          <dl>
            <dt><strong>&lt;CondPattern</strong></dt>
            <dd>Lexicographically precedes<br />
            Treats the <em>CondPattern</em> as a plain string and
            compares it lexicographically to <em>TestString</em>. True if
            <em>TestString</em> lexicographically precedes
            <em>CondPattern</em>.</dd>

            <dt><strong>&gt;CondPattern</strong></dt>
            <dd>Lexicographically follows<br />
            Treats the <em>CondPattern</em> as a plain string and
            compares it lexicographically to <em>TestString</em>. True if
            <em>TestString</em> lexicographically follows
            <em>CondPattern</em>.</dd>

            <dt><strong>=CondPattern</strong></dt>
            <dd>Lexicographically equal<br />
            Treats the <em>CondPattern</em> as a plain string and
            compares it lexicographically to <em>TestString</em>. True if
            <em>TestString</em> is lexicographically equal to
            <em>CondPattern</em> (the two strings are exactly
            equal, character for character). If <em>CondPattern</em>
            is <code>""</code> (two quotation marks) this
            compares <em>TestString</em> to the empty string.</dd>

            <dt><strong>&lt;=CondPattern</strong></dt>
            <dd>Lexicographically less than or equal to<br />
            Treats the <em>CondPattern</em> as a plain string and
            compares it lexicographically to <em>TestString</em>. True
            if <em>TestString</em> lexicographically precedes
            <em>CondPattern</em>, or is equal to <em>CondPattern</em>
            (the two strings are equal, character for character).</dd>

            <dt><strong>&gt;=CondPattern</strong></dt>
            <dd>Lexicographically greater than or equal to<br />
            Treats the <em>CondPattern</em> as a plain string and
            compares it lexicographically to <em>TestString</em>. True
            if <em>TestString</em> lexicographically follows
            <em>CondPattern</em>, or is equal to <em>CondPattern</em>
            (the two strings are equal, character for character).</dd>
        </dl>
        <note><title>Note</title>
        The string comparison operator is part of the <em>CondPattern</em>
        argument and must be included in the quotes if those are used. Eg.
        
        <highlight language="config">
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "=This Robot/1.0"
        </highlight>
        </note>
        
        </li>

        <li>
          You can perform integer comparisons:
          <dl>

            <dt><strong>-eq</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>eq</strong>ual to<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the two are numerically equal.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-ge</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>g</strong>reater than or <strong>e</strong>qual to<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the <em>TestString</em> is numerically greater than or equal
            to the <em>CondPattern</em>.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-gt</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>g</strong>reater <strong>t</strong>han<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the <em>TestString</em> is numerically greater than
            the <em>CondPattern</em>.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-le</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>l</strong>ess than or <strong>e</strong>qual to<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the <em>TestString</em> is numerically less than or equal
            to the <em>CondPattern</em>. Avoid confusion with the
            <strong>-l</strong> by using the <strong>-L</strong> or
            <strong>-h</strong> variant.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-lt</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>l</strong>ess <strong>t</strong>han<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the <em>TestString</em> is numerically less than
            the <em>CondPattern</em>. Avoid confusion with the
            <strong>-l</strong> by using the <strong>-L</strong> or
            <strong>-h</strong> variant.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-ne</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is numerically <strong>n</strong>ot <strong>e</strong>qual to<br />
            The <em>TestString</em> is treated as an integer, and is
            numerically compared to the <em>CondPattern</em>. True if
            the two are numerically different. This is equivalent to
            <code>!-eq</code>.</dd>

           </dl>
        </li>

        <li>You can perform various file attribute tests:


          <dl>

          <dt><strong>-d</strong></dt>

          <dd>Is <strong>d</strong>irectory.<br />
             Treats the <em>TestString</em> as a pathname and tests
            whether or not it exists, and is a directory.
          </dd>

          <dt><strong>-f</strong></dt>

          <dd>Is regular <strong>f</strong>ile.<br />

             Treats the <em>TestString</em> as a pathname and tests
            whether or not it exists, and is a regular file.
        </dd>

           <dt><strong>-F</strong></dt>

           <dd>Is existing file, via subrequest.<br />
            Checks whether or not <em>TestString</em> is a valid file,
            accessible via all the server's currently-configured
            access controls for that path. This uses an internal
            subrequest to do the check, so use it with care -
            it can impact your server's performance!
           </dd>

            <dt><strong>-h</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is symbolic link, bash convention.<br />
            See <strong>-l</strong>.
            </dd>

            <dt><strong>-l</strong></dt>

            <dd>Is symbolic <strong>l</strong>ink.<br />
            Treats the <em>TestString</em> as a pathname and tests
            whether or not it exists, and is a symbolic link. May also
            use the bash convention of <strong>-L</strong> or
            <strong>-h</strong> if there's a possibility of confusion
            such as when using the <strong>-lt</strong> or
            <strong>-le</strong> tests.
            </dd>

            <dt><strong>-L</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is symbolic link, bash convention.<br />
            See <strong>-l</strong>.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-s</strong></dt>
            <dd>Is regular file, with <strong>s</strong>ize.<br />
            Treats the <em>TestString</em> as a pathname and tests
            whether or not it exists, and is a regular file with size greater
            than zero.</dd>

            <dt><strong>-U</strong></dt>
            <dd><p>Is existing URL, via subrequest.<br />
            Checks whether or not <em>TestString</em> is a valid URL,
            accessible via all the server's currently-configured
            access controls for that path. This uses an internal
            subrequest to do the check, so use it with care -
            it can impact your server's performance!</p>
            <p> This flag <em>only</em> returns information about things
            like access control, authentication, and authorization.  This flag
            <em>does not</em> return information about the status code the
            configured handler (static file, CGI, proxy, etc.) would have
            returned.</p> </dd>

            <dt><strong>-x</strong></dt>
            <dd>Has e<strong>x</strong>ecutable permissions.<br />
            Treats the <em>TestString</em> as a pathname and tests
            whether or not it exists, and has executable permissions.
            These permissions are determined according to
            the underlying OS.</dd>

          </dl>

          For example:

        <highlight language="config">
RewriteCond /var/www/%{REQUEST_URI} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+) /other/archive/$1 [R]
        </highlight>

        </li>

        <li>
           <p>If the <em>TestString</em> has the special value <code>expr</code>, the
           <em>CondPattern</em> will be treated as an
           <a href="../expr.html">ap_expr</a>.</p>

           <p>
            In the below example, <code>-strmatch</code> is used to
            compare the <code>REFERER</code> against the site hostname,
            to block unwanted hotlinking.
           </p>

           <highlight language="config">
RewriteCond expr "! %{HTTP_REFERER} -strmatch '*://%{HTTP_HOST}/*'"
RewriteRule "^/images" "-" [F]
           </highlight>
        </li>
     </ol>

     <p>You can also set special flags for <em>CondPattern</em> by appending
        <strong><code>[</code><em>flags</em><code>]</code></strong>
      as the third argument to the <directive>RewriteCond</directive>
      directive, where <em>flags</em> is a comma-separated list of any of the
      following flags:</p>
      
      <ul>
        <li>'<strong><code>nocase|NC</code></strong>'
        (<strong>n</strong>o <strong>c</strong>ase)<br />
        This makes the test case-insensitive - differences
        between 'A-Z' and 'a-z' are ignored, both in the
        expanded <em>TestString</em> and the <em>CondPattern</em>.
        This flag is effective only for comparisons between
        <em>TestString</em> and <em>CondPattern</em>. It has no
        effect on filesystem and subrequest checks.</li>

        <li>
          '<strong><code>ornext|OR</code></strong>'
          (<strong>or</strong> next condition)<br />
          Use this to combine rule conditions with a local OR
          instead of the implicit AND. Typical example:

<highlight language="config">
RewriteCond "%{REMOTE_HOST}"  "^host1"  [OR]
RewriteCond "%{REMOTE_HOST}"  "^host2"  [OR]
RewriteCond "%{REMOTE_HOST}"  "^host3"
RewriteRule ...some special stuff for any of these hosts...
</highlight>

          Without this flag you would have to write the condition/rule
          pair three times.
        </li>

        <li>'<strong><code>novary|NV</code></strong>'
        (<strong>n</strong>o <strong>v</strong>ary)<br />
        If a HTTP header is used in the condition, this flag prevents
        this header from being added to the Vary header of the response. <br />
        Using this flag might break proper caching of the response if
        the representation of this response varies on the value of this header.
        So this flag should be only used if the meaning of the Vary header
        is well understood.
        </li>
      </ul>

      <p><strong>Example:</strong></p>

       <p>To rewrite the Homepage of a site according to the
        ``<code>User-Agent:</code>'' header of the request, you can
        use the following: </p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteCond  "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT}"  "(iPhone|Blackberry|Android)"
RewriteRule  "^/$"                 "/homepage.mobile.html"  [L]

RewriteRule  "^/$"                 "/homepage.std.html"     [L]
</highlight>

        <p>Explanation: If you use a browser which identifies itself
        as a mobile browser (note that the example is incomplete, as
        there are many other mobile platforms), the mobile version of
        the homepage is served. Otherwise, the standard page is served.
        </p>

        <p>By default, multiple <directive>RewriteCond</directive>s
        are evaluated in sequence with an implied logical <strong>AND</strong>.
        If a condition fails, in the absence of an
        <strong><code>OR</code></strong> flag, the entire ruleset is abandoned,
        and further conditions are not evaluated.
        </p>

</usage>

</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>RewriteRule</name>
<description>Defines rules for the rewriting engine</description>
<syntax>RewriteRule
      <em>Pattern</em> <em>Substitution</em> [<em>flags</em>]</syntax>
<contextlist><context>server config</context><context>virtual host</context>
<context>directory</context><context>.htaccess</context></contextlist>
<override>FileInfo</override>

<usage>
      <p>The <directive>RewriteRule</directive> directive is the real
      rewriting workhorse. The directive can occur more than once,
      with each instance defining a single rewrite rule. The
      order in which these rules are defined is important - this is the order
      in which they will be applied at run-time.</p>

      <p><a id="patterns" name="patterns"><em>Pattern</em></a> is
      a perl compatible <a id="regexp" name="regexp">regular
      expression</a>.  What this pattern is compared against varies depending
      on where the <directive>RewriteRule</directive> directive is defined. </p>

<note><title><a id="what_is_matched" name="what_is_matched">What is matched?</a></title>

<ul>
      <li><p>In <directive module="core">VirtualHost</directive> context,
      The <em>Pattern</em> will initially be matched against the part of the
      URL after the hostname and port, and before the query string (e.g. "/app1/index.html").
      This is the (%-decoded) <a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">URL-path</a>.</p></li>

      <li><p>In per-directory context (<directive module="core">Directory</directive> and .htaccess),
      the <em>Pattern</em> is matched against only a partial path, for example a request
      of "/app1/index.html" may result in comparison against "app1/index.html" 
      or "index.html" depending on where the <directive>RewriteRule</directive> is 
      defined.</p>

      <p>The directory path where the rule is defined is stripped from the currently mapped
      filesystem path before comparison (up to and including a trailing slash). 
      The net result of this per-directory prefix stripping is that rules in
      this context only match against the portion of the currently mapped filesystem path 
      "below" where the rule is defined.</p>

      <p>Directives such as <directive module="core"
      >DocumentRoot</directive> and <directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>, or even the 
      result of previous <directive>RewriteRule</directive> substitutions, determine
      the currently mapped filesystem path.  
      </p>
      </li>

      <li><p>If you wish to match against the hostname, port, or query string, use a
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteCond</directive> with the
      <code>%{HTTP_HOST}</code>, <code>%{SERVER_PORT}</code>, or
      <code>%{QUERY_STRING}</code> variables respectively.</p></li>
</ul>
</note>

<note><title>Per-directory Rewrites</title>
<ul>
<li>The rewrite engine may be used in <a
href="../howto/htaccess.html">.htaccess</a> files and in <directive type="section"
module="core">Directory</directive> sections, with some additional
complexity.</li>

<li>To enable the rewrite engine in this context, you need to set
"<code>RewriteEngine On</code>" <strong>and</strong>
"<code>Options FollowSymLinks</code>" must be enabled. If your
administrator has disabled override of <code>FollowSymLinks</code> for
a user's directory, then you cannot use the rewrite engine. This
restriction is required for security reasons.</li>

<li>See the <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteBase</directive>
directive for more information regarding what prefix will be added back to
relative substitutions.</li>

<li> If you wish to match against the full URL-path in a per-directory
(htaccess) RewriteRule, use the <code>%{REQUEST_URI}</code> variable in
a <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteCond</directive>.</li>

<li>The removed prefix always ends with a slash, meaning the matching occurs against a string which
<em>never</em> has a leading slash.  Therefore, a <em>Pattern</em> with <code>^/</code> never
matches in per-directory context.</li>

<li>Although rewrite rules are syntactically permitted in <directive
type="section" module="core">Location</directive> and <directive
type="section" module="core">Files</directive> sections
(including their regular expression counterparts), this
should never be necessary and is unsupported. A likely feature
to break in these contexts is relative substitutions.</li>

<li>The <directive module="core">If</directive> blocks
follow the rules of the <em>directory</em> context.</li>

<li>By default, mod_rewrite overrides rules when <a href="../sections.html#merging">
merging sections</a> belonging to the same context. The <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteOptions</directive> directive can change this behavior,
for example using the <em>Inherit</em> setting.</li>

<li>The <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteOptions</directive> also regulates the
behavior of sections that are stated at the same nesting level of the configuration. In the
following example, by default only the RewriteRules stated in the second 
<directive module="core">If</directive> block
are considered, since the first ones are overridden. Using <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteOptions</directive> Inherit forces mod_rewrite to merge the two
sections and consider both set of statements, rather than only the last one.</li>
</ul>
<example>
<highlight language="config">
&lt;If "true"&gt;
  # Without RewriteOptions Inherit, this rule is overridden by the next
  # section and no redirect will happen for URIs containing 'foo'
  RewriteRule foo http://example.com/foo [R]
&lt;/If&gt;
&lt;If "true"&gt;
  RewriteRule bar http://example.com/bar [R]
&lt;/If&gt;
</highlight>
</example>
</note>

      <p>For some hints on <glossary ref="regex">regular
      expressions</glossary>, see
      the <a href="../rewrite/intro.html#regex">mod_rewrite
      Introduction</a>.</p>

      <p>In <module>mod_rewrite</module>, the NOT character
      ('<code>!</code>') is also available as a possible pattern
      prefix. This enables you to negate a pattern; to say, for instance:
      ``<em>if the current URL does <strong>NOT</strong> match this
      pattern</em>''. This can be used for exceptional cases, where
      it is easier to match the negative pattern, or as a last
      default rule.</p>

<note><title>Note</title>
When using the NOT character to negate a pattern, you cannot include
grouped wildcard parts in that pattern. This is because, when the
pattern does NOT match (ie, the negation matches), there are no
contents for the groups. Thus, if negated patterns are used, you
cannot use <code>$N</code> in the substitution string!
</note>

      <p>The <a id="rhs" name="rhs"><em>Substitution</em></a> of a
      rewrite rule is the string that replaces the original URL-path that
      was matched by <em>Pattern</em>.  The <em>Substitution</em> may
      be a:</p>

      <dl>

        <dt>file-system path</dt>

        <dd>Designates the location on the file-system of the resource
        to be delivered to the client.  Substitutions are only
        treated as a file-system path when the rule is configured in
        server (virtualhost) context and the first component of the
        path in the substitution exists in the file-system</dd>

        <dt>URL-path</dt>

        <dd>A <directive
        module="core">DocumentRoot</directive>-relative path to the
        resource to be served. Note that <module>mod_rewrite</module>
        tries to guess whether you have specified a file-system path
        or a URL-path by checking to see if the first segment of the
        path exists at the root of the file-system. For example, if
        you specify a <em>Substitution</em> string of
        <code>/www/file.html</code>, then this will be treated as a
        URL-path <em>unless</em> a directory named <code>www</code>
        exists at the root or your file-system (or, in the case of
        using rewrites in a <code>.htaccess</code> file, relative to
        your document root), in which case it will
        be treated as a file-system path. If you wish other
        URL-mapping directives (such as <directive
        module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>) to be applied to the
        resulting URL-path, use the <code>[PT]</code> flag as
        described below.</dd>

        <dt>Absolute URL</dt>

        <dd><p>If an absolute URL is specified,
        <module>mod_rewrite</module> checks to see whether the
        hostname matches the current host. If it does, the scheme and
        hostname are stripped out and the resulting path is treated as
        a URL-path. Otherwise, an external redirect is performed for
        the given URL. To force an external redirect back to the
        current host, see the <code>[R]</code> flag below.</p>
        <p>Note that a redirect (implicit or not) using an absolute URI
        will include the requested query-string, to prevent this see the
        <code>[QSD]</code> flag below.</p></dd>

        <dt><code>-</code> (dash)</dt>

        <dd>A dash indicates that no substitution should be performed
        (the existing path is passed through untouched). This is used
        when a flag (see below) needs to be applied without changing
        the path.</dd>

      </dl>

      <p>In addition to plain text, the <em>Substitution</em> string can include</p>

      <ol>
        <li>back-references (<code>$N</code>) to the RewriteRule
        pattern</li>

        <li>back-references (<code>%N</code>) to the last matched
        RewriteCond pattern</li>

        <li>server-variables as in rule condition test-strings
        (<code>%{VARNAME}</code>)</li>

        <li><a href="#mapfunc">mapping-function</a> calls
        (<code>${mapname:key|default}</code>)</li>
      </ol>

      <p>Back-references are identifiers of the form
      <code>$</code><strong>N</strong>
      (<strong>N</strong>=0..9), which will be replaced
      by the contents of the <strong>N</strong>th group of the
      matched <em>Pattern</em>. The server-variables are the same
      as for the <em>TestString</em> of a
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteCond</directive>
      directive. The mapping-functions come from the
      <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteMap</directive>
      directive and are explained there.
      These three types of variables are expanded in the order above.</p>

      <p>Rewrite rules are applied to the results of previous rewrite
      rules, in the order in which they are defined
      in the config file. The URL-path or file-system path (see <a
      href="#what_is_matched">"What is matched?"</a>, above) is <strong>completely
      replaced</strong> by the <em>Substitution</em> and the
      rewriting process continues until all rules have been applied,
      or it is explicitly terminated by an
      <a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_l"><code><strong>L</strong></code> flag</a>,
      or other flag which implies immediate termination, such as
      <code><strong>END</strong></code> or
      <code><strong>F</strong></code>.</p>

     <note><title>Modifying the Query String</title>
      <p>By default, the query string is passed through unchanged. You
      can, however, create URLs in the substitution string containing
      a query string part. Simply use a question mark inside the
      substitution string to indicate that the following text should
      be re-injected into the query string. When you want to erase an
      existing query string, end the substitution string with just a
      question mark. To combine new and old query strings, use the
      <code>[QSA]</code> flag.</p>
     </note>

      <p>Additionally you can set special <a name="rewriteflags"
      id="rewriteflags">actions</a> to be performed by
      appending <strong><code>[</code><em>flags</em><code>]</code></strong>
      as the third argument to the <directive>RewriteRule</directive>
      directive. <em>Flags</em> is a comma-separated list, surround by square
      brackets, of any of the flags in the following table. More
      details, and examples, for each flag, are available in the <a
      href="../rewrite/flags.html">Rewrite Flags document</a>.</p>

    <table border="1" style="zebra">
    <tr><th>Flag and syntax</th>
        <th>Function</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>B</td>
        <td>Escape non-alphanumeric characters in backreferences <em>before</em>
        applying the transformation. For similar escaping of server-variables, see
        the "escape" <a href="#mapfunc">mapping-function</a>.<em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_b">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>BCTLS</td>
        <td>Like [B], but only escape control characters and spaces.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_bctls">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>BNE</td>
        <td>Characters of [B] or [BCTLS] which should <strong>not</strong> be escaped.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_bne">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>backrefnoplus|BNP</td>
        <td>If backreferences are being escaped, spaces should be escaped to
        %20 instead of +. Useful when the backreference will be used in the
        path component rather than the query string.<em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_bnp">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td>chain|C</td>
        <td>Rule is chained to the following rule. If the rule fails,
        the rule(s) chained to it will be skipped. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_c">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>cookie|CO=<em>NAME</em>:<em>VAL</em></td>
        <td>Sets a cookie in the client browser. Full syntax is:
        CO=<em>NAME</em>:<em>VAL</em>:<em>domain</em>[:<em>lifetime</em>[:<em>path</em>[:<em>secure</em>[:<em>httponly</em>[<em>samesite</em>]]]]] <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_co">details ...</a></em>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>discardpath|DPI</td>
        <td>Causes the PATH_INFO portion of the rewritten URI to be
        discarded. <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_dpi">details
        ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>END</td>
        <td>Stop the rewriting process immediately and don't apply any
        more rules. Also prevents further execution of rewrite rules
        in per-directory and .htaccess context. (Available in 2.3.9 and later)
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_end">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>env|E=[!]<em>VAR</em>[:<em>VAL</em>]</td>
        <td>Causes an environment variable <em>VAR</em> to be set (to the
        value <em>VAL</em> if provided). The form !<em>VAR</em> causes
        the environment variable <em>VAR</em> to be unset.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_e">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>forbidden|F</td>
        <td>Returns a 403 FORBIDDEN response to the client browser.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_f">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>gone|G</td>
        <td>Returns a 410 GONE response to the client browser. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_g">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Handler|H=<em>Content-handler</em></td>
        <td>Causes the resulting URI to be sent to the specified
        <em>Content-handler</em> for processing. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_h">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>last|L</td>
        <td>Stop the rewriting process immediately and don't apply any
        more rules. Especially note caveats for per-directory and
        .htaccess context (see also the END flag). <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_l">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>next|N</td>
        <td>Re-run the rewriting process, starting again with the first
        rule, using the result of the ruleset so far as a starting
        point. <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_n">details
        ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>nocase|NC</td>
        <td>Makes the pattern comparison case-insensitive.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_nc">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>noescape|NE</td>
        <td>Prevent mod_rewrite from applying hexcode escaping of
            special characters in the result of rewrites that result in 
            redirection. <em>
            <a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_ne">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>nosubreq|NS</td>
        <td>Causes a rule to be skipped if the current request is an
        internal sub-request. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_ns">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>proxy|P</td>
        <td>Force the substitution URL to be internally sent as a proxy
        request. <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_p">details
        ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>passthrough|PT</td>
        <td>Forces the resulting URI to be passed back to the URL
        mapping engine for processing of other URI-to-filename
        translators, such as <code>Alias</code> or
        <code>Redirect</code>. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_pt">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>qsappend|QSA</td>
        <td>Appends any query string from the original request URL to
        any query string created in the rewrite target.<em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_qsa">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>qsdiscard|QSD</td>
        <td>Discard any query string attached to the incoming URI.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_qsd">details
        ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>qslast|QSL</td>
        <td>Interpret the last (right-most) question mark as the query string
            delimiter, instead of the first (left-most) as normally used.  
            Available in 2.4.19 and later.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_qsl">details
        ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
 
    <tr>
        <td>redirect|R[=<em>code</em>]</td>
        <td>Forces an external redirect, optionally with the specified
        HTTP status code. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_r">details ...</a></em>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>skip|S=<em>num</em></td>
        <td>Tells the rewriting engine to skip the next <em>num</em>
        rules if the current rule matches. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_s">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>type|T=<em>MIME-type</em></td>
        <td>Force the <glossary>MIME-type</glossary> of the target file
        to be the specified type. <em><a
        href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_t">details ...</a></em></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>UnsafeAllow3F</td>
        <td>Allows substitutions from URL's that may be unsafe.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_unsafe_allow_3f">details ...</a></em>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>UnsafePrefixStat</td>
        <td>Allows potentially unsafe substitutions from a leading variable or backreference to a filesystem path.
        <em><a href="../rewrite/flags.html#flag_unsafe_prefix_stat">details ...</a></em>
        </td>
    </tr>
    </table>

<note><title>Home directory expansion</title>
<p> When the substitution string begins with a string
resembling "/~user" (via explicit text or backreferences), <module>mod_rewrite</module> performs
home directory expansion independent of the presence or configuration
of <module>mod_userdir</module>.</p>

<p> This expansion does not occur when the <em>PT</em>
flag is used on the <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
directive.</p>
</note>


     <p>Here are all possible substitution combinations and their
      meanings:</p>

      <p><strong>Inside per-server configuration
      (<code>httpd.conf</code>)<br />
       for request ``<code>GET
      /somepath/pathinfo</code>'':</strong><br />
      </p>

<table border="1" style="zebra">
<tr>
<th>Given Rule</th>
<th>Resulting Substitution</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) otherpath$1</td>
<td>invalid, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) otherpath$1  [R]</td>
<td>invalid, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) otherpath$1  [P]</td>
<td>invalid, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) /otherpath$1</td>
<td>/otherpath/pathinfo</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) /otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://thishost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) /otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>doesn't make sense, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1</td>
<td>/otherpath/pathinfo</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://thishost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>doesn't make sense, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection (the [R] flag is redundant)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^/somepath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via internal proxy</td>
</tr>
</table>

      <p><strong>Inside per-directory configuration for
      <code>/somepath</code><br />
       (<code>/physical/path/to/somepath/.htaccess</code>, with
      <code>RewriteBase "/somepath"</code>)<br />
       for request ``<code>GET
      /somepath/localpath/pathinfo</code>'':</strong><br />
     </p>

<table border="1" style="zebra">

<tr>
<th>Given Rule</th>
<th>Resulting Substitution</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) otherpath$1</td>
<td>/somepath/otherpath/pathinfo</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) otherpath$1  [R]</td>
<td>http://thishost/somepath/otherpath/pathinfo via external
redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) otherpath$1  [P]</td>
<td>doesn't make sense, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) /otherpath$1</td>
<td>/otherpath/pathinfo</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) /otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://thishost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) /otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>doesn't make sense, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1</td>
<td>/otherpath/pathinfo</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://thishost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://thishost/otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>doesn't make sense, not supported</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1 [R]</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via external redirection (the [R] flag is redundant)</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>^localpath(.*) http://otherhost/otherpath$1 [P]</td>
<td>http://otherhost/otherpath/pathinfo via internal proxy</td>
</tr>

</table>

  </usage>
 </directivesynopsis>
</modulesynopsis>